Cooperation
by TobyT
Summary: When Danny's evil self escapes Clockwork and rampages in the ghost zone Vlad seeks the help of his teenage rival.


It was cold and wet evening, raining softly on the dark rich neighbourhood. None of these things bothered Vlad, he took a late night stroll, a bit of time to himself after yet another busy day. One of the two people on earth who could walk in the rain without getting wet. No one could see him, nothing could touch him, just the way he wanted it. Everything was so still, not a sound besides the soft patter of rain on the sidewalk and trees the scattered the street. He calmly walked into a huge park. During the day it may have had a few visitors but at this late hour no one was in sight. He slowly strolled through the park eventually stopping at a rest area beside a small pond. He sat down on a wet park bench and looked over the pond. He stared straight ahead watching as the rain lightly hit the surface of the water creating millions of tiny ripples. If he had been visible you would have been able to see his red glowing eyes from across the park, they allowed him to see in the dark.

Vlad was usually so busy he rarely found the chance to just take a bit of time for himself. He had been so busy all day. Managing billions of dollars of business was time consuming and his ghost activities consumed the rest of his time. His mind wandered aimlessly as he sat there relaxing for the first real time in days. He thought about his recent ghost projects, the CEO of the newest company he had acquired, the man he had overshadowed to agree to the deal. He then thought about some things more important to him. Maddie, he thought about how he could never have her, unless he killed him. Of course he knew full well this would greatly sadden the woman so he always knew this wasn't an option. He thought about what he had missed out on, a partner to research ghosts with, a family, children. Vlad had never really been a family man, he enjoyed being independent. He might never admit it but a he had a soft spot that desired a family.

He thought about Danny, he had certainly influenced the teen, not in obviously positive ways, but the boy had clearly learned a lot from Vlad. Vlad wondered what his world would be like if Danny didn't have any ghost powers. If the Fenton's had not created a second human ghost hybrid. The boy would be incredibly ordinary and thus boring. The boys developing ghost powers were the only interesting thing in his life at the moment. Nothing could excite him like a confrontation with the ghost boy. He thought about it some more before looking at his invisible golden watch, a habit, since it was invisible. He looked around briefly before turning the small section of his arm visible for just a second. It was almost midnight, just a few seconds until it actually. He looked up across the lake and sighed, another day gone, he sighed.

A bright flash of light suddenly lit up the area for just a second, then as soon as it had appeared it was gone. Vlad jerked his head looking around for the source, he saw nothing. Everything remained still as if nothing had happened. He pulled a mobile phone from his pocket and looked at it. A small icon was displayed in the corner. To anyone else it would have meant nothing but this little icon meant trouble. He quickly changed into his ghost half and took off back to his mansion.

* * *

Arriving just a couple of minutes later he landed with a soft thud on the front doorstep. The huge mansion was deserted. Vlad had made it a point not to hire any housekeepers on a full time basis, they only came during the day when he wasn't there. He simply walked through the front door not bothering to unlock it and stood inside the large empty house. He promptly descended through the floor and quickly found himself within the large underground room, his ghost lab. The large ghost portal on the far wall sat idle, inactive it looked exactly the same as the one in Fentonworks. Vlad was one of the three to design the portal many years ago. The design had always worked, but never publicly. When had had built his own mini portal several years later following the same design he found it worked perfectly. He never discovered what went wrong with the original experiment that gave him his ghost powers. No time to think about that though.

Vlad rushed over to a large computer monitor sitting on a huge desk. He sat down and typed a few things into the computer unlocking it. The computer automatically displayed a report relating to the alert he had received just minutes ago. Vlad read over the report quickly his expression turned quickly into a frown. He read again not truly believing what it said.

The report detailed a large explosion in the far reaches of the ghost zone, it was so large it had destroyed several of his small automated probes exploring and monitoring the area. Vlad watched the footage recorded by some and looked at the numbers again. As much as he hated to admit it the worst possible scenario had occurred. The deadly force that was Dan Phantom had escaped from his prison. Vlad watched several more video clips seeing the evil future phantom flying away from the partially destroyed castle. He was gravely concerned, as anyone who knew about this phantom would have been. Fortunately he had been ready for this day and had a plan of action ready. He wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight.

* * *

The sun was rising slowly over Amity Park when Danny awoke. He looked at his bedside clock, 6:50 it read. Time to get ready for another day of school. He changed into his jeans and bland white shirt before heading downstairs. His entire family was already eating breakfast. Maddie had cooked what appeared to be pancakes, pancakes with a light green glow. If this were a normal family then these pancakes would have triggered several alarm bells. Danny however was used to it and so was the rest of the family, it barely registered to them at all.

"Good morning sweetie." Maddie said as he stuck his head around the corner looking in.

"Yeah." said his father between bites. "These new Fenton Pancakes are great."

Danny noticed his father's pancakes were shaped like little ghosts, complete with eyeholes. He sighed and joined them at the table. Maddie put a plate down in front of him, on it were various shaped pancakes. He noticed one was shaped like the silhouette of his own ghost form. He gave it a strange look before watching a fork stabbed into its head. He looked up to see his father with a big grin on his face.

"I made a mould shaped just like that wretched ghost boy. Now I can have the pleasure of eating him for breakfast." Jack said with pride. "Am I a genius or what."

Danny and Jazz both winced as Jack took the glowing pancake from Danny's plate and proceeded to cut off its arm, slowly.

"Anyway." said Jazz. "We were just discussing school." trying to change the subject.

"Yes Danny, we heard you have a big test today." Maddie added. "And you know what Fenton's always get on tests."

"Yes." said Danny, bothered by their constant nagging. They had been talking about the test for the last several weeks.

"You know this test is worth 70% of your final grade." Jazz added.

"I know already." Danny sighed. "You told me a thousand time. If you don't pass this test you'll fail the whole year." he quoted her with a sarcastic nag tone.

Jazz rolled her eyes and then said firmly. "You aren't taking this seriously enough Danny. I really hope you've studied."

The conversation shifted again as everyone continued to eat there pancakes. After eating Danny finished getting ready for school before the school bus came. Jazz had already left driving herself to school, Jack and Maddie were now downstairs in the ghost lab. Danny purposely allowed the school bus to leave without him before turning into his ghost form and flying invisibly through the front door and following it.

The morning flight was much more pleasant than actually riding the bus and it was also a good work out. Danny floated gently in the sky above the bus casually following it to school, stopping as it did as it and flying again when it resumed. If anyone had looked up even briefly they would have seen the black jumpsuited teen with his purple backpack, but no one ever did.

The bus arrived at school while Danny found himself a hiding place nearby and changed back with a flash of light. He blended into the crowd of students as they got off the bus and headed into the school. Danny met Sam at his locker, well, her locker since they were right beside each other. She was getting some books ready for the first class of the day.

"I hope your ready Danny, the test is after lunch." Sam said as she noticed him approach. "I hope the ghosts gave you a bit of time to study."

"They did." Danny smiled. "Last night was quiet, quiet is good." Danny opened his own locker and put his bag inside it, he pulled out a couple of books and the two headed to their first class before the bell rang. Tucker joined them before they entered the room surprising Danny by sticking a brand new gadget in his face.

"Do you like her?" Tucker said proudly. "Its my brand new PDA."

"It looks just like the old one." Danny said with a groan. Tucker always had some new device which to Danny always looked just like the old one. "Whats different about this one?" he dared to ask.

"It has video." was the reply. Tucker pressed a button and the put the screen in Danny's face.

"Whats different about this one?" the machine said, showing a video of Danny just seconds ago.

"Cute." Sam said also seeing the video. "Does it do anything useful?"

"Ha, ha." Tucker said slowly. "You don't appreciate new tech when you see it." he spun the PDA around to himself and spoke softly to it. "There there, she didn't mean it."

Sam rolled her eyes and walked into the classroom, Danny and Tucker soon followed.

* * *

The day passed quickly and soon it was time for the test. The lunch break was over and everyone had once again taken their seats in the classroom, separated so they couldn't cheat.

"You may begin." Mr Lancer said to the room.

Danny opened his paper and read the first question. He couldn't understand it at all. He looked at the second and could make no sense of it either. A drop of sweat rolled down the side of his face. He was in trouble, he looked at the third and finally relief, a question he could answer. He set to work solving the complex problem.

The test lasted two hours and Danny thought he did okay. Tucker was smiling at the end of the test, he was a geek, Danny could tell he had done well. Sam's expression gave nothing away, as usual. Mr Lancer walked slowly between the desks and collected up the papers. When he was done he simply walked back to the front of the room and put the collection of papers on the desk.

"You may now leave." he said just as the final bell rang. "Have a good summer."

* * *

Danny and his friends left the room with everyone else heading to the front of the school building. They only stopped briefly to empty their lockers.

"Finally." said Danny closing his locker for the last time. "No more school, no more getting behind on homework. No staying up late to get it done."

"Yeah." Tucker replied. "Full time ghost hunting here we come."

The passed through the front door and down a couple of stairs before noticing the crowd had stopped moving. Floating in the air above the school gates was a pale blue ghost.

"Plasmius." said Danny. "Darn it, no where to hide and go ghost."

"Danny, look." said Sam pointing. "He's coming."

Vlad had spotted them as soon as they had left the building. He flew swiftly towards them.

"Daniel Fenton, son of the great Amity Park ghost hunters." he stopped right in front of Daniel floating several feet off the ground. "You are now my hostage."

Vlad suddenly flew right into Danny and forcibly overshadowed the boy. Danny put his hands on his face in agony as he tried to resist. He couldn't however and was quickly overpowered by the older ghost. His arms fell to his sides and his eyes turned red. Sam and Tucker took a step back from Danny unsure of what to do. Everyone else just stared. Then, without turning into his ghost form Danny flew into the air and quickly out of sight. Vlad flew Danny to the edge of town quickly and landed in the front yard of his own manor. After landing softly on the well kept lawn Vlad stepped out of Danny who furiously changed into his ghost half ready for a fight. His hands started glowing and he took a fighting stance several feet away from his enemy.

"Calm down Daniel." Plasmius said sharply. "I have more important things to deal with than your anger."

"Why did you bring me here?" Danny asked still angry.

"A situation has arisen and I need your help." Plasmius said lowering his tone, almost defeated. "Your evil future self has escaped Clockwork's prison."

"What?" Danny said lowering his stance. Palms no longer glowing. "How do you even know about him?"

"I know a lot more than you think I do." Plasmius said. "How could I possibly be unaware of the damage that man caused in his timeline, and in ours."

"But Clockwork erased him from the timeline." Danny said slowly, considering the possibility that his evil self was still out there.

"He's escaped into the ghost zone." Plasmius continued. "He broke free and injured Clockwork in a huge explosion. Since I know you have beaten this man before, then I know you'll be a great help in defeating him once again.

"Why should I help you?" Danny said sternly.

"Because if you don't he'll go after your family like he did last time. We must act now before he regains all of his strength."

Vlad showed Danny to the door. He looked at Danny and almost smiled before walking right through the door, he had very few visitors and this was the first on he didn't have to open the door for. Once inside Danny found himself in a large foyer and just like the Wisconsin castle this one was decked out in green and gold, the colors of Vlad's favorite football team. He might not b able to own them, but since last time Danny had been in one of Vlad's homes he had become a major sponsor to try better befriend the team. Danny looked at the framed memorabilia on the walls and in cases all around the room.

"No time for that now Danny." Vlad said, reminding Danny where he was. "Follow me."

Vlad disappeared through a green and gold rug on the floor. Danny followed expecting to find some sort of lab below. He was right. The lab looked like a cave simply cut into the stone that lay several meters below the surface. The room was dimly illuminated by a green glow that came from an active ghost portal on the other side of the room. This was more than enough light because both off them could see in the dark. Plasmius's eyes were glowing as he turned to the teen.

"Daniel. Watch this." Plasmius activated a large screen mounted on the wall to Danny's left. It illuminated the room with its glow. A video played, Danny watched as the camera slowly moved towards a dark castle floating in the endless green. A large explosion suddenly engulfed it blowing out one side and a small blur of a ghost could be seen shooting out of the smoke and off into the ghost zone. The picture changed to another view which showed the explosion from further away. The blur however passed closer to this camera and when it did Plasmius pressed a button on his computer. Danny watched as the picture zoomed in on the blur, it was him, just 10 years older, and crazy. Plasmius had been telling the truth.

"Do you have a plan?" Danny asked

"Of course dear boy." Plasmius said. "I always have a plan."

Vlad opened a large vault door near the entrance to the room. Inside were various weapons and other gadgets. Danny recognized a few of them as Plasmius walked inside.

"You'll be needing one of these." Plasmius said throwing Danny a red Fenton Thermos. He also handed him a compact communication device that looked like a Fenton Phone and after a bit of searching a weapon that looked like a pistol. Danny almost dropped it when he realized what it was.

"I've never fired a real gun before." Danny said nervously.

"Its not a real gun Danny." Plasmius said, his tone mocking the boy's intelligence. "Its an ecto weapon. Its been designed specifically to hurt you. so don't shoot yourself."

"Me?"

"Your future self fool." Plasmius was looking annoyed at what he had to work with.

"Hey." Danny said. "Don't call me stupid, your the one who called me here. Why are you giving me all this stuff anyway. Aren't you coming?"

"Of course I'm coming." Plasmius said, "I'm just better prepared."

He was, Vlad stepped out of the vault covered in all sorts of equipment. He was wearing what looked like a space helmet and was wearing a belt covered in all kinds of gadgets and weapons.

"I guess I better show you how to use your equipment before we go." Plasmius said with another sigh. Vlad took his own weapon identical weapon from his belt. "Just aim at what you want to shoot then pull the trigger." He aimed the weapon at a target on the wall and fired. The shot hit right in the middle of the center ring. "You try."

Danny nervously pulled the gun up in front of him and pointed it towards the target. Unseen to him Vlad took a big step backwards. He shot and the room was briefly filled with a bright red light. The small bullet of energy crossed the room and hit the second small ring around from the middle of target.

Vlad smiled, so did Danny. "Good enough." Vlad said. "It'll have to do, we don't have the time to practice. Just remember, if you shoot it too much the power of the shots will weaken." Vlad turned to the portal. "Oh." he walked back into the vault and came out a moment with a sliver belt. "Here." he said as he threw the holster to Danny.

Danny fumbled with holster but caught it. He the proceeded to fasten it around his waist and the put the gun in it quickly. They were both ready for action. They almost looked like a team, Danny clearly the smaller sidekick, with his shorter size and smaller selection of gadgets. Vlad walked over to the portal and stopped in front of it.

"I'll lead the way." he said before flying through the portal. Danny had no choice to follow.

* * *

**Well, hopefully this new idea will become an interesting story. Sorry to those who might have been expecting more VladXDanny, this will be more of a father/son fic. Anyone who can guess what is going to happen before I finish chapter two can have a Danny plushie. Reviews welcomed.**

**Also, the name is a work in progress. When a couple of critical events happen I'll try and think of a better name.**


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